100% Honest Question. Where do you Source Your Live Rock From and Did it Have Significant Numbers of Hitchhikers?

[livinlifeinBKK]

Honestly it looked fine but my tank arrived damaged and I was waiting for a replacement tank. I kept the rock in a heated brute with a power head to keep it alive. I think it would have been fine anyway.

Ok I see! I was wondering why else you'd go through the trouble of curing Indonesian rock shipped in water!

 

[CincyReefer07]

I got 110lbs of Jakarta live rock when Carolina Aquatics had some to sell to dealers about 10 months ago. It was shipped in styro boxes with a bag and about 2 inches of water,mostly

cured and I didn’t see any hitchhikers at all. I cured it for a month in a brute can to make sure but never saw anything. I don’t know if it’s still available or not. It was pretty pricey @ $14 lb.

Those are some good looking pieces… also. And very reasonable price too. I know my Aussie rock was $25 per pound. But to me, worth every penny for how gorgeous and unique and filled with coraline it was, plus not having any pests at all like so many people tend to be scared of nowadays. That said, I wish I could afford to fill my 310g up with nothing but Aussie live rock, but that would make me go broke haha… so I have the 70lbs I bought and will mix that in with the 200ish pounds of dried fiji, pukani, cornerstone, and marco rock that I have for the build as well to build my scape. Plus using ocean direct live sand

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Those are some good looking pieces… also. And very reasonable price too. I know my Aussie rock was $25 per pound. But to me, worth every penny for how gorgeous and unique and filled with coraline it was, plus not having any pests at all like so many people tend to be scared of nowadays. That said, I wish I could afford to fill my 310g up with nothing but Aussie live rock, but that would make me go broke haha… so I have the 70lbs I bought and will mix that in with the 200ish pounds of dried fiji, pukani, cornerstone, and marco rock that I have for the build as well to build my scape. Plus using ocean direct live sand

There are plenty of things in this hobby that money gets wasted on....to me though, high quality live rock is certainly not a waste of money in any way!

 

[hoytoyed]

There are plenty of things in this hobby that money gets wasted on....to me though, high quality live rock is certainly not a waste of money in any way!

When I bought mine I had just bought the tank and most of the pumps and stuff. The $1400 for live rock hurt my feelings, but at that point….
I did have a bit of luck though- I bought my Cade 1500 the week before they had a $700 price increase.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

"Bad hitchhiker" is a relative term. If you get the "premium" or "deco" rock maricultured, you're paying more for rock with more macro life (as opposed to micro life/bacteria). With that comes more coral, more sponges, and more inverts. Whether you consider them good or bad depends on your particular application.
Buying the more basic maricultured rock, you'll get less neato stuff on the rock but it still will have the bacterial diversity.
Mush less chance of typical hitchhikers with this rock.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

"Bad hitchhiker" is a relative term. If you get the "premium" or "deco" rock maricultured, you're paying more for rock with more macro life (as opposed to micro life/bacteria). With that comes more coral, more sponges, and more inverts. Whether you consider them good or bad depends on your particular application.
Buying the more basic maricultured rock, you'll get less neato stuff on the rock but it still will have the bacterial diversity.
Mush less chance of typical hitchhikers with this rock.

Also, there will be variation in what comes on the rock depending on the season...

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Also, there will be variation in what comes on the rock depending on the season...

What is the best season or time to get live rock from say kp?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

What is the best season or time to get live rock from say kp?

No clue. Probably depends on what you're looking for the rock to have growing on it. Best to ask them.

 

[LeannaBanana]

I personally ordered from Gulf Live Rock. When I started my latest tank I ordered about 1/3 live rock, and about 2/3 dry. (In addition to live sand) My hitchhikers included, but are not limited to: turkey wing clam, fan worms, bristle worm (not many), an urchin of unknown species (it's still smaller, but shaped like a long spine), feather dusters, limpets, star coral that I thought died in transit, but has since colored up nicely, tunicates, brittle stars, and a couple of macro algae that I never ID'd but got eaten by my CUC.

I paid roughly $6/lb without shipping included in the price.

I did end up with aiptasia, but I don't 100% know if that was from the rock or a coral order.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I am any day about to place an order for 150-200lbs of kp rock submerged in water. My plan is to fill an extra 60 gallon frag tank full of this rock that is plumbed into my 10 year old system just for the bacteria to boost my system that I feel is stale or lacking bio diversity (old tank syndrome) from being lost over the many years of neglecting tank. The price is crazy but nothing compaired to the cost of the corals In the system that I hope benefit from this

 

[davidcalgary29]

With the exception of a particularly pretty rock, I've bought all of my live rock from people who have broken down their tanks. I'm not sure what the situation is like for other reefers, but the "local" (translation: ten-hour drive) facebook group has constant ads for people who are literally giving away their live rock for $1 to $2/lb. And with the exception of one seller, who gave me majanos along with his live rock (and tank), I've never received an unwanted guest. And I saw them on the rocks, so this wasn't unexpected.

I've found aquarium owners to be a lot more conscientious than LFS, as they tend to take great care to avoid giving away nasty surprises to buyers, perhaps because they themselves have gone through the pain of troublesome infestations.

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

Got 30 lbs of the premium rock from KP a few weeks ago. Have to say I’m impressed. Loads of life, coralline algae, no “dead” smell at all. Quarantine/cured in a plastic tub for almost a week just to be sure before putting it new tank. Cycled practically immediately. Ordered 15 lb more of the base rock just to fill out my 50 gallon tank. Should get it the middle of this week. Here’s some photos of the premium.

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

And in the display…

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

And in the display…

Looks nice! The only thing Id worry about with all the sponges and tunicates and other macrofauna that come on some of the live rock from the Gulf is possible die off after being placed in the tank since a lot of those organisms can be pretty delicate and hard to feed adequately. Idk if that actually happens or not though because I'm in a totally different part of the world so I don't have experience with Gulf live rock

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The wild Florida rock from TBS that I used to set up my tank many years ago was filled with wonderful hitchhikers, from corals to brittle stars to a wonderful orange anemone).

Some didn’t survive long term (e.g. mussels and orange sponges) but none were harmful and some lived for years.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The wild Florida rock from TBS that I used to set up my tank many years ago was filled with wonderful hitchhikers, from corals to brittle stars to a wonderful orange anemone).

Some didn’t survive long term (e.g. mussels and orange sponges) but none were harmful and some lived for years.

I feel like the whole hitchhiker concern is really overblown these days (especially considering this post). I know there are some bad ones out there but it doesn't even seem like a roll of the dice whether you get a bad hitchhiker or not...it seems rarer than that.

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

The wild Florida rock from TBS that I used to set up my tank many years ago was filled with wonderful hitchhikers, from corals to brittle stars to a wonderful orange anemone).

Some didn’t survive long term (e.g. mussels and orange sponges) but none were harmful and some lived for years.

What would you recommend “feeding” your hitchhikers if you don’t plan on getting fish right away? I think I remember someone mentioning Hikari Algae Wafers from another thread, but I wanted some more ideas. I’ve seen brittle stars, crabs, and shrimp in my rock.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

What would you recommend “feeding” your hitchhikers if you don’t plan on getting fish right away? I think I remember someone mentioning Hikari Algae Wafers from another thread, but I wanted some more ideas. I’ve seen brittle stars, crabs, and shrimp in my rock.

Multiple strains of live phytoplankton come to mind...some filter feeders are very particular about size so different Phyto species might help maintain them for longer at least...a coral food such as Reef Roids might help some too but that can cause nutrient spikes which may not be good... interested in what Randy has to suggest

 

[Homey D. Clownfish]

Multiple strains of live phytoplankton come to mind...some filter feeders are very particular about size so different Phyto species might help maintain them for longer at least...a coral food such as Reef Roids might help some too but that can cause nutrient spikes which may not be good... interested in what Randy has to suggest

Yeah, I was actually looking at dosing my tank with some pods/phytoplankton from AlgaeBarn once I have my aquascape set, but that’s still a week or two away and didn’t want everything to starve in the meantime.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Yeah, I was actually looking at dosing my tank with some pods/phytoplankton from AlgaeBarn once I have my aquascape set, but that’s still a week or two away and didn’t want everything to starve in the meantime.

Dosing a little live phyto couldn't hurt anything